Someone in Southern California had a very different kind of Christmas Eve: not the jackpot itself, but a life-changing consolation. While a single ticket in Arkansas snapped up a historic $1.817 billion Powerball prize, back-to-back drawings produced multi‑million dollar runner‑ups in California — one at a Chino Hills 7‑Eleven and another outside Oxnard.
How the big prizes broke down
In the Christmas Eve drawing, a player who matched five of the six numbers — all the white balls but not the red Powerball — won $2,811,275, according to the California Lottery. That ticket was sold at the 7‑Eleven on Chino Hills Parkway, the same convenience store that famously sold a $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot ticket in 2016. Because California awards some prizes on a parimutuel basis, the standard $1 million five‑number prize swelled to the roughly $2.8 million payout once ticket sales and the number of winners were tallied.
Earlier in the holiday stretch, a different drawing produced its own California windfall. Wright’s Market in Nyeland Acres, just outside Oxnard, sold a ticket that matched five white balls in the Dec. 20 drawing and is worth about $2.3 million. The corner store also picked up a smaller retailer bonus — the state reported roughly an $11,500 payment for selling the winning ticket — and employees said the publicity pushed more customers in to buy Powerball slips.
Meanwhile, the long Powerball streak of growing jackpots came to an end when a single ticket sold in Arkansas matched all six numbers and claimed the full $1.817 billion grand prize. With the jackpot claimed, Powerball rolls reset to the base level for the next drawing.
What this means for winners and retailers
Both California prizes reflect how the game’s payout math can produce larger-than-expected amounts for matching five numbers, especially when there are unusually high ticket sales around blockbuster jackpots. Retailers can also receive modest bonuses when they sell big winning tickets — a little goodwill (and publicity) that often brings a rush of customers hoping lightning will strike again.
Lottery officials routinely urge players to check their tickets carefully after big drawings. Practical steps winners often follow include signing the back of the ticket, storing it somewhere safe, and contacting the lottery to learn the claims process. Before rushing into any public announcement, many financial planners recommend consulting an attorney and tax or financial advisor to map out options for lump‑sum versus annuity choices, taxes, and long‑term planning.
If you think you hold one of these winning tickets, verify the numbers directly with the California Lottery or by visiting an official retailer. Those are the fastest, most reliable ways to confirm a prize and begin the claims process.
A reminder about odds — and dreams
Big jackpots electrify behavior: people buy more tickets, and that extra volume can lift the value of non‑jackpot prizes. That’s what we saw in California this month — two separate drawings produced multi‑million dollar runner‑ups even though the headline grand prize went elsewhere.
For the stores involved, the wins are a minor windfall and a marketing boon. For the ticket holders — once they step forward — the money can represent mortgage payoffs, business moves, family help, or simply the freedom to breathe a little easier. For the rest of us, it’s a reminder that while the odds of a jackpot are vanishingly slim, meaningful wins can still crop up in unexpected places.
No statewide names have been released by lottery officials yet, and media accounts indicate at least one of the retailers had not been contacted by the winner as of the initial reports. If history is any guide, the weeks after a big drawing can bring careful planning, some secrecy, and then — eventually — the moment when a winner decides how to tell the world.